U of M Labor and Community Strike Support Committee

September 8, 2007

President Robert H. Bruininks

202 Morrill Hall
100 Church Street S.E.
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Dear President Bruininks:

We are writing to express our concern regarding the administration’s negotiations with the AFSCME clerical, health care, and technical workers on campus. As faculty and staff in the Sociology Department, we are deeply committed to social justice in our teaching, research, and engagement with society. This commitment begins at home, right here on this campus. It is of the utmost importance to us and to our students that this strike be settled immediately so that the workers who serve us so well do not miss one more day's pay.

We urge the administration to return to the bargaining table in good faith and settle this strike immediately. We do not understand why the University failed to conclude its negotiations with these workers in the first place. Given the few remaining issues at the table, the clear notice of the intent to strike and the predictable negative impact of such a strike during the first week of classes, we believe that the administration had a responsibility to the University community to carry out its negotiations in good faith and in a competent and timely fashion. The consequences of the negotiating team’s failure to do so affect us all in myriad practical and ethical ways.

Things are not running smoothly. Many critical functions that directly affect our obligations to students are being compromised. We are concerned at the tone of the communications from the Office of Human Resources that characterize the University’s operations as continuing “at the highest service level” during this strike. This contention is patently false. Losing clerical and technical workers during the first week of the semester clearly causes problems for students and faculty. Through the heroic efforts of our remaining staff and through faculty and graduate students' attempts to pick up the slack, the department continues to function. However, this is not sustainable in the long run, it is unfair to the non-striking staff, and faculty and graduate student efforts to fill in are no substitute for the years of experience and skill our co-workers bring to our University community.

Further, mistaking correlation for causation, university spokespersons suggest that union workers who remain on the job do not support the strike and are content with their pay and work conditions. An alternative explanation is that these low-paid workers simply cannot afford to go on strike. The possibility of losing weeks or months of pay is scary for all workers. It is particularly frightening to employees who lack disposable income and struggle each month to make ends meet. The University is incorrect to assume that non-striking workers do not support the union and fellow employees who are on the picket lines.

We are also concerned about the consequences of the strike for non-striking workers, including faculty and other staff. Let us state clearly that we find it repugnant to have to cross picket lines to teach classes. Many of our students do not want to cross picket lines to go to class. The faculty’s freedom to hold classes off campus, in support of the strikers, must be respected.

If we are to become one of the top research universities in the nation, all of our efforts and energies must be directed toward achieving excellence in teaching, research, and service to the community. Anything that distracts our attention from these goals will hinder our efforts to fulfill the University’s highest aspirations. The administration should realize that a prolonged strike will only tarnish the University’s reputation in our highly progressive state. If the administration wishes its faculty, staff, and students to direct their full attention to their crucial teaching, service and research activities, then we urge you to act quickly to restore good will and a sense of normalcy on campus by returning to the bargaining table.

We in the Sociology Department at the University of Minnesota are committed in the strongest possible terms to social justice in our own community. We urge you to act immediately to settle with our highly valued colleagues.

Sincerely,

Ronald Aminzade
Yanjie Bian
Elizabeth Boyle
Jeffrey Broadbent
Penny Edgell
Scott Eliason
Robert Fox
Michael Goldman
Teresa Gowan
Douglas Hartmann
YoonJung Helbig
Kathleen Hull
Erin Kelly
David Knoke
Carolyn Liebler
Enid Logan
Ann Meier
Ann Miller
Ross Macmillan
Jeylan Mortimer
Joshua Page
Joel Samaha
Joachim Savelsberg
Rachel Schurman
Robin Stryker
Teresa Swartz
Christoper Uggen
Robert Warren